McCutchen earned respect on and off the field

Lubbock Avalanche Journal photo Texas Tech running back Doug McCutchen (32) was the Southwest Conference rushing leader in 1970. He died Tuesday in San Angelo at the age of 61.

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Whether it was as a high school star, a coach or an athletic director, Doug McCutchen always found a way to make a positive impact, his friends and colleagues say.

McCutchen, the athletic director of the SAISD since 2008, died Tuesday nearly a week after an allergic reaction to pre-surgery drugs left him in critical condition.

Klein ISD athletic director Robert Young — one of McCutchen's closest friends — described him as a positive force wherever he went.

"I don't know of any place he ever was that wasn't better for him being there," Young said. "I don't know of any job he was ever in that he didn't make a better job while he was there."

He may have been known as "Coach" from 37 years as a coach and then athletic director, but to a generation of admirers and football fans McCutchen also went by the nickname the "Bronte Bruiser."

Possibly lost in the shadow of his professional success through the years as a coach at seven high schools, and AD for two districts, McCutchen in the late 1960s was one of the most sought-after recruits in the state as an all-state running back.

He made headlines across West Texas rushing for nearly 1,700 yards in leading Bronte High School to an 11-0 record and Class B regional championship in 1967.

Grant Teaff, then the recruiting coordinator at Texas Tech, at the time called McCutchen the most talented back he'd recruited in 10 years and ultimately got him to put pen to paper in the spring of 1968.

"I guess you could say I was the guy that discovered him," said Teaff, who later was head coach at Angelo State University and Baylor. "He had that instinct as a running back that you have to have. That instinct is what separates guys. He didn't have great speed, but he had very adequate speed."

At the time of his graduation from Bronte, McCutchen was the third-most prolific scorer in state history with 629 points, trailing just Kenneth Hall and Dick Todd.

NCAA rules didn't allow freshmen to compete on the varsity when McCutchen entered college and he redshirted in 1969.

Judging by his breakthrough 1970 season, McCutchen was worth the wait.

"Doug was one of those rarities," Teaff said. "When you recruit them, you envision what they can do. Not all are able to do it. Doug was rare in that he not only did what I thought he could, but more. Plus he was a great leader."

The 5-foot-11, 205-pound back ran his way into the Tech record books with the first 1,000-yard season in school history. The mark of 1,068 yards, which was just the fifth 1,000-yard season in Southwest Conference history, was good enough to earn him honorable mention All-America honors.

Former Angelo State head coach Jim Hess recalled McCutchen's punishing running style, having coached against him as an assistant at Rice.

"He was a hard-running dude," Hess said.

Davis Corley, who like McCutchen made the leap from Bronte into the SWC at Texas Tech, said that his teammate was impossible to bring down.

"He wasn't extremely fast, but he was just hard to tackle," Corley said. "He wasn't going to quit. He wouldn't go down when the first guy tried to tackle him — it would take two or three. And that was the way he was at Tech."

As a collegian, McCutchen helped the Red Raiders to two Sun Bowl appearances in his three seasons.

Teaff said McCutchen was just as good off the field as he was on it at Tech.

"The thing that I was most proud of at Tech was that he was a team player," Teaff said. "He has always been that way. Even as a coach he wanted to have a total team."

After wrapping up his playing days, he returned to Concho Valley as an assistant at Central High.

He coached there four years before three seasons as an assistant — including a national championship year — at Texas A&I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville).

It was at A&I that he met Young, developing a friendship that would last the rest of his life.

Young said McCutchen had all the intangibles of a great coach.

"Doug was an intelligent person that understood the game of football," Young said. "He was the kind of person that kids wanted to play for. They not only liked playing for him, but what he was able to teach them about the game made them better players."

He took his first head coaching job at Liberty High School, followed by a stint at Klein Forest, where Young joined him as an assistant.

When McCutchen returned to West Texas, taking the head coaching job at Midland High in 1985, Young became the head coach at Klein Forest and has remained with the Klein ISD since.

After taking Midland to its first district title since 1951, in the 1988 season immortalized by the book "Friday Night Lights," McCutchen made coaching stops at Duncanville and Amarillo Tascosa before moving to administration.

His eight-year tenure at Spring ISD saw remarkable success, including more than two dozen district titles and six state finalists in football, girls basketball and baseball.

"Doug understood that as an athletic director our job is easiest when you hire good people. He understood that having a good staff starts with the people you hire," Young said.

"He understood what it took to be a success as a coach. He knew what he was looking for when he was trying to hire a coach."

In less than three years since taking the job with the SAISD, Hess said McCutchen had been responsible for solid hires in football, basketball and baseball. The district also has made numerous facility upgrades, including a new field house at San Angelo Stadium. But, Hess said, as was the case when he was a player and a coach, his accomplishments as an AD were never something that he bragged about.

"I think he has done a tremendous job," Hess said. "I think he did a great job hiring coaches. Basketball has improved, baseball has improved. His facilities have improved — look at the field house. There were some things that he still wanted to do, but he did a lot of it, and you never even knew."